“By the way,” Ray asked, “what did happen to Shirley?”
“Prime’s people got her. We’d been using her to redirect them away from us, and they must have sent over someone who wasn’t vulnerable to vocal suggestion. He slit her throat.”
We agreed to meet again on Monday, and then everybody left.
Well, almost everybody. Haley stayed.
I walked into the lab and started pulling out the parts for the anti-paralysis/mind control devices. Thinking back on it, I don’t remember being in a particularly bad mood, but I wasn’t in a good one. The rest of the afternoon and the evening stretched before me. I had to finish them that night because if something came up tomorrow, one of us might die. Continue reading Graduation: Part 14→
Me: Crap. I thought we might have more time.
Daniel: I don’t know. It seems about right to me.
Me: Do you know where he is?
Daniel: No. It’s hard to get much of anything. I get snippets, but not much more.
Vaughn walked over to us as soon as he saw us. He said something to Sean and the others, and met us just as I’d started to look over Vaughn’s pictures. Fortunately, only the senior pictures had been blown up. Some of them, specifically one where a five year old Vaughn had smeared red jelly over half his face, were mortifying enough at three by five inches.
I made a mental note to ask for veto power over any pictures my parents felt a need to share.
The next day was Sunday. After my family went to church, and had dinner, I decided that I was going to go to HQ to get some serious work done on the anti-paralysis device. I had a working prototype. I just had to put out a copy for all of us, plus spares. Except then I realized I ought to make copies for anyone who planned to help us, plus if I managed to pump out more roachbots, it wouldn’t hurt.
That’s what I thought at about 1:30, but then I remembered that Keith and Courtney’s graduation open houses were that afternoon between two and four, and that I’d RSVP’ed. Worse, I couldn’t just skip it because Haley had been invited too. Continue reading Graduation: Part 11→
Travis nodded. “That sounds good, but we still don’t even know who we’re going to attack. The Cabal’s going for us for sure. Justice Fist and their parents might not. And we don’t know whether Ray and his people are going to go after us first, or whether they’ll go after Solar Flare.”
“Right. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. You don’t know, and it’s time to find out. Time to bug the Cabal’s recruits, and setup surveillance on the best targets. Also, you’ve got to come up with a better way of searching through the videos than you’ve got so far. From what you’ve said, it sounds like you’re always behind.” Continue reading Graduation: Part 10→
Travis put down his burger. “Why can’t you just do that again?”
“Because I’m not going to. I made a deal with the original Rocket and solving your problems isn’t in it. Teaching is.”
“What else is in the deal?”
“Telling you about it isn’t in the deal either. When Nick’s eighteen, I’ll tell him, and Rachel. After that, it’s their business.” Continue reading Graduation: Part 9→
Chris came over fifteen minutes later, and parked in Grandpa’s driveway. I still had about an hour before I had to really worry about people showing up, and unintentionally revealing the person behind the mask. I thought Chris could be trusted, but I wasn’t about to out people without permission.
We ended up talking in the living room. It didn’t have much more than a thirty year old brown couch, and an old TV set. The family had taken all the furniture and decorations that anyone liked after Grandpa died.
Standing while Chris sat on the couch, I explained that people in armored suits and mechs had broken Ray and his team out. “Which means they’re either with Syndicate L somehow, or they’re connected with someone who buys mechs from the same people.” Continue reading Graduation: Part 8→
We told Lee after the performance. He (as Ben) had walked down to the bar to grab a beer.
Haley got up before I even noticed where he’d gone, and made it halfway across the room before I had time to even think. She didn’t talk to him for very long. When she came back, she told me, “He said to wait and he’ll come over.” Continue reading Graduation: Part 7→
“I might be exaggerating, but he’s been running anyone he thinks he can trust through the Impregnator — including kids like Sean’s little sister. She’s what, fourteen? She’s not even done growing.” Continue reading Graduation: Part 6→
The Legion of Nothing: A Series of Online Superhero Novels (Updates Monday and Thursday)